Case Study: Makedo goes to Middle School by Stephen Elliott

Last week, one of our Changemakers posted the coolest idea in our newly formed education community.

“My 7th and 8th-grade students just finished their first engineering challenge using Makedo. They’re a bit too cool to admit this on the record, but a few of them muttered that it was maybe the most fun they’ve ever had in a class.

The challenge (part 1): build the tallest tower you can using paper and tape.

The challenge (part 2): Build the tallest tower again, but this time, you need to use the Makedo tools and fasteners only. This is an example of the Computational Thinking skill of abstraction, or applying the learning from one problem to another.

We are working on problem-solving through computational thinking, and projects like this are a really practical way to engage the kids to activate their critical thinking through play."

We just had to reach out to Stephen Elliott at La Paz Middle School to find out more! 

Stephen’s school is a Title 1 school in Central California's Salinas Valley. Students come to the school with diverse backgrounds and levels of exposure to science and Engineering. The school district is shifting its emphasis to CTE (Career Technical Education), and even middle schools have the opportunity to learn STEM career skills through Stephen Elliott’s Exploratory class. 

Challenge: What skills can students gain through play? 

In middle school, students need opportunities to plan projects from start to finish, work in teams, and learn how to adapt their ideas to the tools and materials provided. How does one teacher, in one classroom, meet all those needs? When I attended Makedo’s Cardboard Arcade event at the 2025 ISTE conference, a light bulb came on. I could meet those needs through play. 

I wanted to bring teams together to play with engineering tools in my class. Still, my students also need to leave the classroom equipped with knowledge and understanding of the thinking and collaboration skills required to complete an engineering project. The stakes (and the pressure!) for students are much higher in middle school. 

To combine play and skill acquisition, I created this Computational Thinking skills poster on Canva. I asked students to reflect on and apply the skills they had learned after each session of playful engineering.

My goal is to have them think about how this framework can help them solve problems in other classes as well.

Implementation Solution: Cardboard Engineering

Traditional engineering projects in middle school often involve popsicle sticks, hot glue guns (and burn ointment), along with cardboard, wood, foam board, and sets of craft knives (don’t forget the Band-Aids! Yikes!). Makedo offers a safer solution, with tools and materials that can be reused, making it even easier for students to start playing with engineering skills right away. 

The first day, the challenge was simple: build the tallest tower you could with only the provided tools (paper and tape) within one class period. Students needed a fun challenge to practice their skills, but they also needed to understand their own groups and identify where team members needed to learn and grow. This is a constant challenge in middle school, which some may even recall from their own middle school years: some groups know how to divide labour and roles, while others do not. 

On the second day, the challenge was the same: Build a tower. However, this time, students were instructed to apply the Computational Thinking skills of Decomposition (breaking problems down into smaller parts) and Algorithmic thinking (using small, repeatable steps to achieve success). I created the following video as a playful and silly introduction. 

It should be noted that a middle schooler believes their image is everything, and it’s so important to have the right people think that you’re cool. And you certainly wouldn’t want to be caught enjoying yourself in your super-nerdy elective teacher’s class. 

So when a student mumbles that this is the most fun they’ve had all year at school, or another says that “this was actually kind of fun… a little,” please understand that this is the highest compliment that any middle school teacher can hope to receive

“After their first experience with Makedo, my students muttered that it was maybe the most fun they’ve ever had in a class.”

Results and Impact: Key Takeaways for Your Classroom

And the results? Far greater than could have been imagined! Students worked bell-to-bell (the rallying cry of administrators everywhere) and divided the labor into repeatable steps, with a job given to each student in each group. Very few students were off task, and almost no students were wandering around with empty hands.

When the weather got nice and warm, students went outside where their work attracted the attention of all passersby, from campus security, to social workers and wellness center staff, and even an administrator who stopped by to give a group some construction advice. 

Not that they needed it in the first place, because the tallest tower was 7’4” (2.23 meters, for the international crowd).

Here are the biggest takeaways from this first (but definitely not last!) experience with Makedo in my classroom.

• Big kids need to play too. We get so serious in secondary that there needs to be room to cut loose and dive into a big goofy project with low stakes and a high giggle factor. Learning opportunities exist inside whatever students are engaged with!

• Makedo’s tools are safe and reusable. An upfront investment and a bit of instruction, and kids can just go and try out all their weird, crazy ideas. And teachers get to watch that creative spark ignite without the constant fear of injury. (see previous comments about craft knives…)

• It’s great to make positive connections with all the adult staff in your educational institution. When do your campus security get to have positive interactions with students? When do school social workers get to see their students working together with others in the classroom? A simple activity can spark so many positive memories!

Tips for Teachers

Don’t let the age range fool you. Makedo is great for older kids, too. If you’re planning to use Makedo in secondary, remember all the cool ways you can tie in core curricular content, like the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices, or Computer Science frameworks like Computational Thinking Practices. 

Who says playtime can’t also have a big academic impact?

What’s Next? Looking Forward

This year, my students will continue to make, build, and prototype with Makedo. After building some great towers, I plan to take students' beginner programming skills, some microcontrollers, and a few well-placed sensors, and bring cardboard crafting into the age of robotics! The kids are going to lead the way on this one, so there’s no telling what is going to happen next!

More to come from me. I just hope the extra order of Scru and Scru+ I ordered this week gets here quickly, because we’re going even bigger next time!

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